Zimbabwe allows independent dailies for 1st time in 7 years

New York, May 27, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists hails the Zimbabwe
Media Commission’s decision to grant publishing licenses to TheDaily News, the long-banned independent
newspaper, and a handful of other publications. Commission Chairman Godfrey
Majonga announced on Wednesday that the licenses would be issued immediately,
marking the first time in nearly seven years that an independent daily will be allowed
to print domestically, local journalists told CPJ.

A new independent daily, NewsDay, was also approved for domestic
publication.

The Media Commission approved three other licenses as well. They went to The Daily
Gazette, to be published by
the company that now produces TheFinancial Gazette, a weekly
that has some reported ties to the ruling ZANU-PF; The Mail, a new publication owned by a company
linked to the ruling party; and The Worker, a monthly run by the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions that now will become a weekly.

“We welcome this decision with open arms and hope this will allow the public
access to independent reporting,” said CPJ’s Africa Program Coordinator Tom Rhodes. “We now urge the coalition government to
enact broadcast media reforms that will promote diversity and independence in
news media.”

The Media Commission was established in December 2009 as part of the media
reform efforts that were included in the power-sharing deal between the ruling
ZANU-PF and opposition parties.

The independent print press was once an active force in Zimbabwean society. But
in 2002, facing stiffening political opposition, President Robert Mugabe
introduced draconian
media laws requiring journalists and newspapers to register with the
government. In practice, the government used these rules to shut down
independent publications.

Under editor Geoffrey Nyarota, a former CPJ International Press Freedom
Awardee, The Daily News had been the
nation’s most popular paper before it was banned by
the government in September 2003. Nyarota has served recently as an online consultant for The Daily News.

A small handful of independent weeklies have continued to publish in
Zimbabwe over the past seven years. They include the Zimbabwe Independent and The Standard, both of which are
owned by the same company that plans to publish NewsDay. Other independent publications, such as The Zimbabwean, led by the exiled editor
Wilf Mbanga, are printed outside the country and then shipped into Zimbabwe.

Editor's note: The original text of this alert was corrected to remove an erroneous reference to Geoffrey Nyarota's role in the relaunch of The Daily News. He has recently served as a consultant. He is not serving as editor.